Something I Learned Today...

Just something I thought of while watching last week's Dollhouse
Spoilers for... well, last week's Dollhouse. Specifically, "The Attic"

( When fandoms collide! )

Happy MST3K Holidays, one and all.




Paper snowflake (folded paper + scissors).

( Better pic at my LJ )

A bit of back story: I work at SccTv in Seattle, a vverrrryyyy small station at NSCC, and we produce an Earth Program called Professor Fred's Movie Marvels. It's hosted by Professor Fred (who actually does teach here at the college), and showcases what he calls 'schlock cinema". So, I was just sitting in my office, going about my business, when what do I hear drifting above the ambient noise of the building but "Hooray for Santy Claus!" I jumped out of my chair and raced over to our editor's office to check that, indeed, this installment of Movie Marvels was about Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Unfortunately, we couldn't get Fred in for the host segment, so it's not a full-on episode, but it'll still be as green and scary as ever! t's playing this Friday at 9 pm and 12 midnight, and again on Saturday at 3pm.  For people in the Seattle area, it's channel 28 on Comcast, and for everyone else you can stream it at www.scctv.net/ Merry Martian Christmas to all (even you, Droppo!)

SEX!  EROTICISM!  SEX IS IMPORTANT!

I'm pretty much accustomed to what is the norm in vampire fantasies; vamps are very sexual, vamps are very erotic, there's lots of sex and blood, and everyone's very sexy All.The.Time.  It's the norm, it's what people like, and I get that to an extent.  I mean, I'm still really happy when I do find vampire lore-centric novels that downplay the sexual deviancy aspects and focus more on lore, characters, and intriguing arcs, and this isn't to say that if there's sex then there's none of the aforementioned good stuff, but more often than not (sadly) wherever there's sex there isn't much else.

So I'm calling FAIL here because in addition to clunky dialogue, unoriginal characters (vampires are Romanian...where have I heard that cliche before), and an author who must practically pause the action to explain something to death, there is the absolutely ridiculous psychic virgin and the will-she-or-won't-she-be-sexed-and-by-whom plots.  Because the virgin thing and the sex thing are OMG SO IMPORTANT to the story.

Yeah no.  I've pretty much reached the point of fictional sex saturation.  To me, it reeks of laziness because if there's one thing sure to reel in readers it's sex, and too many authors utlise this to sell a book...or in this case, a series of them.  It's obvious, it bores me, and I don't need to read about any more beautiful characters, prefectly formed for perfectly performed sex scenes.

Also, no, it's not romantic when a vampire hypnotises a character for sex.  It's really not.  Nor is the tired plot device of a supernatural link between a vampire and...oh, pretty much anybody.

And, as a Romanian reader to an obviously not Romanian author, it would be nice if your Romanian vampire knew a Romanian word other than "dulceata".  That got old very fast.

I have to say, once upon a time, I loved Rice's work, but it quite quickly went from "Just Right" in Interview and Lestat to "Too Much" in Memnoch and later works. I'm not sure what to think about her newer books, the ones that live in the religious category, because while I love books and stories that bring up theological and religious subjects and questions, I hate books that shove them down your throat. Is it worth picking up Angel Time, or am I going to scoff at it? Is Rice beyond literary redemption, or is there still hope?

:::Edit::: So, I guess I'm a touch picky... Or a lot picky, as the case may be. I think I'll just borrow it from the library and see how that goes. One more question though, how would you rate it plot-progression wise?

What's YOUR favorite science fiction episode? Be it space opera or melting man, all are welcome here.

Pretty you may be!

My former roommate got this book for Christmas last year. We were just talking about it. This review may not be the best since I do not have the book on hand to refer to, but, from memory:

( Why criticism can fail, too )

--PolarisDiB, who apologizes that he's lost all of his other examples of the ridiculous nature of Thomson's criticism and had to rely on just the one specific example over and over again to make his point on the matter.

Pirates! - Celia Rees (2003)

( It's a bad sign when you have to put an exclamation point in the title. )

So, what's everyone's take on anteaters?

In a marvellous coincidence, Shout Factory, the guys who put out MST3K on DVD, now hold the licence for the old Showa-era Gamera films.

http://robojapan.blogspot.com/2009/12/showa-gamera-movies-to-be-released-by.html

Does this mean we could be seeing the Gamera MST3K episodes on DVD at last?

I saw Mommy KILLING Santa Claus Underneath the Mistletoe last MURDER!!!

Hey all! First post on this community, hope I do the fail of this little gem some justice.



( Proceed for the Fail )

OMG HAVE BOOK FOUR. Will have a swanky cover image for you when I get it. The cover looks weird and blurry on the product review page, but sometimes Lulu does that and it will look awesome and not at all blurry when you actually get it!

Also, if you type in "HOHOHO" at checkout, you get twenty percent off. THAT'S A LOT OF PERCENT. It's more than ten, that's for sure.

Omnibus is being worked on steadily.

So it's the Greatest Science Fiction Novel of all time, according to the praise. A classic at the least. I was super excited to finally get to read it, as I have recently gotten into science fiction and wanted to start off my education with some of the big names.

After this, I think I'm going to be skipping Robert Heinlein.

( At what point do we stop saying 'it was the time period' and start saying, 'yeah, it's bigotted?' )

"The mansion on top of Benson Hill has been empty and boarded up for years. But a new family has moved in. A family that never ventures out during the day. Who are these creepy people; especially the handsome, dark, and elusive Alexander Sterling? Or rather, what are they? Could the town gossip actually be true? Are they vampires? Raven, who secretly covets a vampire kiss, both at the risk of her own mortality and Alexander's loving trust, is dying to uncover the truth." (from goodreads desc.)

This book is awful. This book predates the whole vampire phenomenon by several years, but it doesn't make it any fresher.
( Read more... )

I've been lurking since I saw this community in the spotlight, and I figured that I might as well contribute, given that this book was... well, let's just say I wasn't a fan. I posted this review of it in my LJ over the summer, complete with quotes. It's lengthy, because of the quotes and because I probably talk more than I really need to.



( Ambiguous Resolution? Maybe as ambiguous as a 2x4 to the head... SPOILERS and a long review under the cut. )

tl:dr: I dislike Atwood's characterizations, approaches to being a feminist, and the fact that she couldn't be more obvious if she tried.

*Edit* Sorry this is early, I really needed to rant on this.

Dear every author ever,

I beg of you, please, pick up a baby name book or something, please! Do you have a set list of appropriate names for certain types of character that you pass around on the author playground at lunch time? I love you guys, really, and some of you are really impressive authors, but this name stereotyping needs to stop.

Examples I've noticed in the past 4 days:
From the "Vampire" list, Eric and Vlad are the worst offenders at two each. From the "Real Jerks" list, the worst offender is Gabriel (Why, I don't know. You'd think you guys could be more creative.) with a total of at least five obnoxious Jerks sharing that name. Supernatural creatures tend to get V or E names, see the "Vampire" list above. And on another note, please stop trying to hide "Buzz Words" in names. An example of this being Sinclair, While, yes, it is a name, does it have to be the last name of someone "sinful"? Or worse, not even hiding them and just naming your characters words.

This isn't the only time I've noticed this, and I'm only pointing out the worst offenders. If you've never done this, then congrats, you're doing great. Just keep it in mind, okay?

Sincerely, Me

I don't know if this is relevant or not but I just want to say I hate this about all books. You know they're at an important juncture and the one dude is talking and it's usually done the omniscient format, however they two characters are talking and the one is thinking some irrelevant thought about drapes.
Why do lots of novelist do that to us I've only found Stephen King and Jeffery S. Savage refrain from that kind of silliness. Well that and Mickey Spillane. It's really bad with first person narrative the character tends to go on and on and get us totally distracted with utter nonsense. Sound familiar Tolkien

Hello. Long time lurker, first time poster. So, with that said, onto my review.



( All Under the Cut... )